what is the Section 179 Deduction?

Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income. It’s an incentive created by the U.S. Government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves.

Today, Section 179 is one of the few incentives contained in any of the recent Stimulus Bills that actually helps small business. Although large businesses also benefit from Section 179 or Bonus Depreciation, the original target of this legislation was much needed tax relief for Small Business – and millions of small businesses are actually taking action and getting real benefit.

Essentially, Section 179 works like this:
Most business owners would really prefer to write off the entire equipment purchase price for the year they buy it. In fact, if a business could write off the entire amount, they might add more equipment this year instead of waiting.

That’s the whole purpose behind Section 179… to motivate the American economy.

Section 179 for 2011 at a glance:

“Bonus” Depreciation - 100% (taken after the $500k deduction limit is reached). Note, bonus depreciation is only for new equipment. This can also be taken by businesses that exceed $2 million in capital equipment purchases. read more...